Winter weather (or the lack thereof)

I hope everyone in the northeast is enjoying the snow this weekend. Further south we're being treated to mild, rainy weather that seems more like March than January. I am grateful for the easy winter we've been having (since Gregg can go out and walk and get exercise which is helping his recovery) but I must admit I've been craving a little bit of real winter weather. So much so that I had myself fooled into believing we had snow on the way yesterday!

I was at my Yahoo! homepage and clicked on the weather icon. The forecast showed snow showers for two days with accumulation of up to 5 inches! I got so excited, I called Gregg in to see, and we both were exclaiming how we just couldn't believe we were going to get that much snow! After a full 5 minutes of excitement, I happened to glance at the top of the page....and instead of my default location, we were looking at the forecast for New York City. Sigh. I felt like a real dumbass!

So that's as close to real winter weather as we've gotten here in SC. There is still time, of course, but we're probably not going to see as much snow as we had last year (and all of it together didn't even approach 5 inches!) I envy those of you that have beautiful, snowy winters.

Midwinter morning

A fragrant cup of coffee, a good book, and a cold January morning outside my window....a husband sleeping peacefully in the next room....the sound of birds at the feeder outside chattering to each other....and a warm, cozy home to enjoy it all in...I am content.

What a peaceful, lovely way to begin the day. All I have is all I need.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Slowly but surely, things are improving and we're beginning to see a possible light at the end of the tunnel.

Gregg had surgery to remove his left lung on Jan.5, and he is now at home recovering beautifully. His one week follow up with the surgeon (one week after discharge from the hospital) went very well! He is healing quickly and should be almost back to normal in 2 to 3 more weeks.

Although no cancer has been found anywhere else in his body (even the lymph nodes at the bottom of the lung they removed were clear) we will be meeting with an oncologist and Gregg will most likely have one round of chemo. This is just extra insurance that they got it all. They said he can have plenty of time to get good and recovered from the operation first.

I am so very thankful that Gregg is probably going to be ok. This has been a horrible, traumatic experience and I hope that by this summer we can put this behind us and get back to a somewhat normal life. Gregg quit smoking cold turkey before the surgery, and has done very very well with it! So hopefully between that and a super healthy lifestyle he can live a long, cancer free life. Of course, he will have to have frequent checkups to catch any recurrance early, but they said that besides the tumor in his lung (most certainly caused by cigarettes) that he was amazingly healthy and strong. The doctors and respiratory therapists also continue to reassure us that he can live a very normal (even active!) life with just one lung. The human body is an amazing, adaptable thing!

I am so very, very thankful. More updates to come....

Update

This is reposted from Facebook, since I am too exhausted to do much of a blog post right now. Gregg had surgery to remove his left lung on Thursday, and he is doing great! :) The final pathology report came back, and although the tumor was large, the lymph nodes on the bottom of that lung were clear of cancer, and the surgeon got a clear margin all around it. We are looking at one round of chemo even though no cancer has shown up anywhere else, just as extra insurance. That won't be until after he finishes recovering from the operation, though.

Facebook message:

To all of our friends and family that have given us support, love, prayers, and help during this difficult time: Gregg and I are grateful from the bottom of our hearts to have so many wonderful people in our lives. It is astonishing and humbling to receive such an outpouring of kindness and concern. Thank you all so much. I don't know how to express all that it has meant to us.

Gregg is recovering beautifully. His surgery went very well and he seems to be healing quickly so far. He is in the CVICU and will be for the duration of his hospital stay. We are hoping he will be coming home on Monday or Tuesday.

I cannot say enough good things about the amazing staff at Mccleod Regional Medical Center. The level of personal concern, professionalism, and attention from everyone has been exceptional. In particular we are grateful to Dr. Vinod Jona and Dr. Gregory Jones for going above and beyond in every possible way. Words cannot express how very, very grateful we are for their skills and the urgency with which they treated Gregg's illness. The entire hospital staff has been absolutely amazing.